Still not a good house cat, it is a wild animal. A long time ago when my father was stationed in the then Panama Canal Zone, some people tried to keep ocelots as pets. It never really went very well. Someone in my English class had one that tore up the house, and would get violent.

Though I am surprised on how many people try to make pets out of wild animals, and how it just not go well. Which makes the picture of a wild animal on a domestic cat food bag seem both ridiculous and somewhat wrong.

I’ve seen an ocelot at the zoo catch fish that was put in its enclosure. Plus I just checked Google U. and saw some pictures of bobcats trying to catch fish (possibly even salmon during spawning). Neither of those would make good house cats.

I have avoided giving fish to cats since the vet that was unblocking the urinary track of my neutered male tabby again told it was thought to be a cause (1970s). Then in the 1980s another vet for next neutered male cat said that was no longer true since pet food makers had improved the cat food so it did not cause that kind of blockage (but he did get special “kidney” food in his teens). But I still avoid fish cat food. The about fifteen year old cats in this house get “weight control” kibble.

Well, considering that the common house cat is a “feral species” in what we in this country view as “wilderness,” I’d say that’s a bit of “junk science marketing” that appeals to “romantic” notions of what would be healthy for them. Their presence in that landscape is hardly “natural.”

Grain-free diet? That’s not natural. First, cats eat plants by their own choice, especially grasses. I never caught my cats carefully excluding the seeds when decimating my house plants. Second, cats eat herbivores, who are usually stuffed with plant matter including grains. The cats eat pretty much the whole prey animal, except maybe the bigger bones, so their diet includes both vegetable and meat even when eating other critters.
But an all-meat diet not exactly what the manufacturer of this “natural” food is actually selling, though they may be implying it. They’re promising “no corn, wheat or soy” and following through. They’re promising “grain-free”, which is technically true, but they’re not actually promising or following through on being plant-free. The vegetable ingredients include: ‘Tapioca Starch, Pea Protein, Flaxseed, Pea Fiber, Potatoes, Alfalfa Meal, Potato Starch, Caramel, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots’. Technically, flax seed and alfalfa are seeds, not grains, but you’d have to pull out a botany textbook to tell me the difference.
So, lots of marketing, but mainly in the implications and some made-up lingo. You need a patent lawyer and a chemist to translate what “LifeSource(R) Bits” means to average person, just like McDonald’s “RealBeef(tm)” does not mean you’re getting 100% meat or even pieces from a recognizable part of the cow. As far as “Active Nutrients”, that’s great, I guess… as opposed to what, “Inactive Nutrients”? Marketing crap.

Cats are true carnivores. They generally are best sustained on an all meat diet. That being said, they will eat grasses or seeds when the sense an upset in their own chemistry but this is rarely done or needed on a daily basis.

Blue seems to do this a lot. They tend to think that “evolutionary diets” (which isn’t seen at all in nature) are better for cats. Which is like saying that the CaveMan diet is better for humans, and I doubt anyone will agree that almost all fat and protein is in any way “healthy.”

They use this slogan as if grain is completely horrible for cats and dogs, and that by using their over-priced petfoods, you are going to have a healthier, longer-lasting pet.

Hilarious! Right after seeing this picture (of the cat food) I went out to buy some dog food and found its canine counterpart – with a very wolfy looking husky on the front. I almost bought it so that my husky can become more wolf-like – that’s what those evolutionary bits are for, right?

Natural evolutionary diet? Over the many, many generations, just as we’ve artificially selected cats for certain aesthetic traits, I’m sure we have–consciously or unconsciously–also selected various eating habits, none of which include eating a “Salmon recipe.”